Is This The World’s Very Best Pedicure?

2 mins ago

Fusing wellbeing with beauty, Bastien Gonzalez is globally renowned for his comprehensive pedicure

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Looking for a foot overhaul ahead of summer? The Bastien Pedicure is a world-renowned treatment, buffing and polishing to reveal the foot’s natural beauty. Only available at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London, here’s what it’s like.

The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

Here’s What The Bastien Pedicure Is Like

Scraping, filing, clipping and painting: these are the tenets of a traditional pedicure. We tend to beautify our toes when a sunny holiday looms on the horizon, so the UK’s recent brighter weather might have you daydreaming of flip flops, sandals and bare toes wriggling in the sand. But before you reach to your usual beauty therapist, consider your precious toes’ integrity: they’re pretty, but are they healthy?

This is the question underpinning Bastien Gonzalez’s approach to feet. The Prince of Podiatry, who established his namesake nail brand in 2002, was originally inspired by his grandmother, who in later life would polish her nails not with paint but with a soft leather chamois nail buffer. She was too old for nail polish, he recalls her telling him. But the most beautiful nails are shiny, natural and healthy – so that’s what she would have.

Bastien’s pedicure – emphasis on cure – starts here. It’s all about gently nudging the nails towards beauty, buffing, trimming and treating the surrounding skin with the tiniest precision tools whirring and buzzing delicately around each toe to reveal healthy, naturally shiny nails sans lacquer. This is followed by gentle buffing of the feet, effectively eliminating irregularities, callouses and dryness to reveal butter-soft skin.

And emphasis on pedi: not just the feet, but the bottom half of the leg, knee down. The latter segment of the treatment is a massage, best experienced in the Bastien Duo: two therapists moving in hypnotising synchronicity, mobilising each matching finger and toe joint as part of a soothing massage of hands and fingers, toes and legs.

The Spa reception

It’s the ultimate luxury experience, especially since you’ll leave with a lasting remnant of your investment: the shiniest nails sparkling in the light, despite being entirely unpainted. Bastien knows that latter fact won’t appeal to everyone. But of course, this ultra-luxurious treatment isn’t for everyone at all: it’s for the pedicurious, those keen to invest in the long-lasting health of their feet and toes. To keep that allure of exclusivity, The Bastien Pedicure is only available in one spa per country. In the UK, the opulent Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is the venue of choice.

Conclude (or begin) your journey in The Spa at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, a pocket-sized wellness haven: find a vitality pool, steam room, sauna and relaxation room hidden beneath the chandelier-clad lobby. Await your treatment in the latter, nibbling on snacks honouring Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to balance the body from the inside out: sour umeboshi plums for the liver, sweet banana chips for the spleen, salty giant corn for the kidneys, spicy chilli mix for the lungs and bitter dark chocolate for the heart.